Yallah Brick Road

On behalf of all first-gen kids born in America who learned English through early-morning viewing of PBS programming, I'd like to wish the crew down at Sesame Street a happy birthday on turning the big 4-0.

Few know that Bert of Bert'n'Ernie fame was of Middle Eastern descent. That unibrow, cropped hair, and unending cynicism is a fitting testament to his ancestry.

The co-creator of Sesame Street was puppeteer Jim Henson, who branched off with The Muppet Show. That program guests like Jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie, who was a friend of Persian culture through involvement in his unitarian Persian faith. The Dizster even managed to tour Iran in the late 1950s.

Speaking of PBS, their newsmagazine Frontline next week will be premiering a documentary on the #Neda phenomenon. In our consolidated, corporate media landscape PBS still bringin' the goods. That includes the radio, where NPR's Diane Rehm moderates the goings on. Diane is a produce of Middle Eastern parentage (Egpytian dad, Turkish mom) and goes from coast to coast via KCRW, which I find tediously boring at times. But hey, its free. Can't be picky.